June 30, 2011

He's apologized, but I don't care. I want him to explain why he did it. Why is he editor-in-large at Time if he can't explain things as accessible to him as his own mind?

Am I the only one who takes more offense at the blurted phrase "Oh my God" (by Joe Scarborough) than the use of the word "dick" to explain the President's behavior? I think insulting the President is rough political discourse, but saying "Oh my God" is taking the Lord's name in vain.

You know, I bet Halperin was reverting to a style of speech that he uses with his colleagues, off-camera, and he thought he could stick it in, perhaps with bleeping or a comic reference to bleeping that didn't happen. But he's out of touch with the segment of the morning TV audience that experiences "he was a dick" as way off the norm. I mean, I am too.

I'm trying to guess whether that segment is also disturbed by "Oh my God" the way I am. I really don't understand how anyone who believes in God (or has respect for people around them who believe in God) can say use "God" as part of a casual exclamation.

But calling people a dick. It's rude, but actual dicks aren't able to take offense, and even if they were, they wouldn't determine your fate in the afterlife.

Its rather odd. I am far more offended at the use of the Lord's name in vain than I am at the use of other profanities (scatological, sexual, etc). I chock those up to a lack of imagination. Hearing the Lord's name in vain actually makes me wince.

I'm going to the beach this Friday and get one of those pot doctors to give me a weed prescription, get some "medicine" and ponder this question for the entire weekend. I'll get back to ya after my "treatment".

I'm trying to guess whether that segment is also disturbed by "Oh my God" the way I am. I really don't understand how anyone who believes in God (or has respect for people around them who believe in God) can say use "God" as part of a casual exclamation.

Is there some subtle irony here that eludes me? If not, god knows why this would bother you.

Yeah, it's a coursening of our political speach, and since it was applied to O'bama, who if you will recall is black, and that makes it racist, etc etc.

Look O'bama is an idiot, his policies are dangerous, but I'd prefer that we dont call President's dicks or hitlers on TV.

As for the President calling out the GOP for pushing granny off the cliff, or doctors for cutting off good legs, well that's just normal political discourse now that we've changed the tone in Washington for the better...

Hi, Ann,No, you're not the only one. Mike Duran (a very interesting guy, a former minister, a construction worker, now a novelist) mused on this a day or two ago:http://mikeduran.com/?p=13305

Furthermore, if the real issue is not using the word “God” carelessly, then commonly accepted sayings like “God bless you” and “oh my God” are equally as sinful. I mean, do we really mean to invoke God’s blessings on someone who sneezes? Do unbelievers have the ability to summon such a blessing? Or is it just a stupid, yet well-intentioned, cultural idiom? Saying “God bless you” when someone sneezes can be as “vain” and meaningless as saying “God damn you” when someone doesn’t.

Saying "Oh my God" is not using the Lord's name in vain. There are all kinds of gods out there. Saying Jesus's name is what offends people...not the Christian people, but neo-pagans who fear its power. Using Jesus's name in sincere faith is seen as cheating, and therefore a rude thing to say.

The Lord's name originally was Bavel (Babel). That was the point of the story of Babel. It could not be translated.

It also meant, confusedly, confusion.

YHWH disperses them from here over the face of all the earth.They cease to build the city.Over which he proclaims his name, Bavel, Confusion,for there, YHWH confounds the lip of all the earth,and from there YHWH disperses them over the face of all the earth.

(Chouraqui translation)

The translator resorts to apposition, capitalization, paraphrase.

The prohibition of using the Lord's name might originally have meant an impossibility, a fact of language in general.

These people consider Obama to be a front for their progressive movement rather than a leader in his own right; they possibly respect him less than the conservatives do.Halperin said he he thought Obama was a "dick" at that press conference, because that is what he thought, and he thought he was among friends on "Morning, Joe" and could rely on the expression being cut out of the broadcast.

Not a fan of Mr Obama, but he also holds an institutional position as President--we can debate whether he is or is not a good president, but the institutional position should not be denigrated (imo, of course)

I'm of the mind, Roger, that perhaps for the first time ever, Halperin was at least telling the truth as he saw it.

Criticism, often visceral criticism, comes with the job of being President of the United States.

Halperin just crossed a line and used a word which (thankfully) still offends some segment of America (meaning there is still hope), but he probably spoke the true contents of his conscience without having to resort to doubletalk or symbolism.

Not a fan of Mr Obama, but he also holds an institutional position as President--we can debate whether he is or is not a good president, but the institutional position should not be denigrated (imo, of course)

Well Roger, Halperin didn’t say the OFFICE of the President is a D!ck, but rather that OBAMA was a D!ck…..he didn’t denigrate the office, but he office HOLDER…and unless my mind plays tricks there is no “crime” of Lesse majeste so who cares…and unless you can show a long-running Internet “concern” for denigration of the Office of POTUS, I’d say you are well over eight years to late in your “concern.”

I'm pretty sure the term "dickhead" didn't come from the German "dick(e)," but rather as a reference to the penis. Of course, I could be wrong, or it could even be a case of convergent linguistic evolution.

That's bullshit on the level of saying Bachmann praised the spirit of John Wayne Gacy.

When you're close to your next birthday, rounding off to the higher age is perfectly normal and correct. I have sons with birthdays in March and June, and once the March one goes up to the next year, I usually move the June one up too, because they are 2 years apart. I'm not forgetting anything, I'm just rounding and simplifying.

And, as a side note, I also avoid using "God" in phrases like "OMG" and so forth. To me, the worst curse is to say G-- D-mn this or that... that's calling eternal damnation upon someone or something, which is (in my mind) far worse than cursing based upon simple scatological words or reproductive organs.

"I swear to God" and "Goddammit" are examples of taking the Lord's name in vain and are literally profane. Exclaiming, "Oh, my God" is calling on the Lord to witness something and is actually a kind of a prayer. Just saying "God" as in "God, it's hot" is an ellipsis for one or the other.

Calling someone a "dick" or using the traditional four-letter words or other insults related to bodily functions is vulgarity and reveals more about the immature vocabulary and critical thinking skills of the speaker than of his or her subject. Such a speaker does not belong in broadcasting.

As I understand it, saying "God Bless You" after a sneeze evolved from a (pagan?) belief that sneezing allowed bad spirits into one's body. The "God Bless you" was meant to protect the sneezer. The "Oh My God" exclamation doesn't really bother me after years of listening to Priests, Brothers, etc. use it (though it probably is a breach of a strict interpretation of the 7th Commandment). One case in which I would believe the speaker to be truly offensive, and not much of a person at all, is if they were to "swear to God" over a lie. That's just plain bad.

How many layers of elites are there - you know, those people whose opinions about what's important are more credible than the rest of ours? Me and NewAge? Eh - not important unless you blog on it. ("Crack bait!") Glen Reynolds and robotics? DAMN! And you a men in shorts - because Glen likes you? Let it be!

Really, how many layers before MY asking what brain-dead journalists are thinking - and how they stay employed - has the same credibility as the rest of you Americans?

All words are okay. When my son was young I said he was free to say "fuck" whenever it pleased him. But I would ask him what got him so angry?

Dick's about the same.

What got Halperin so angry? Was he once a fan? Is he angry watching power leached out of being an elite?

Did he confuse "Barry" with "Dick?"

It's bad news for obama if people get criticized for pointing out to his failures.

What happened to Chris Wallace when he asked Michele Bachmann if she was a flake? (Okay. He said he was sorry.)

So, here we have adults who back off from their criticism by saying "sorry."

At least we have the Internet. I didn't have to watch MSNBC! I don't ever watch TV.

But I can see TV is as stupid as ever. See "Dick." See "Boobs."

It's too funny when you think what people are saying about obama behind the scenes.

His numbers have shot so far down into the toilet ... he's unable to get the cash he needs ... to pay the fools who run TV stations. And, the advertisers who supply the commercials ... that are best ignored when seen, anyway

Calling someone a "dick" or using the traditional four-letter words or other insults related to bodily functions is vulgarity and reveals more about the immature vocabulary and critical thinking skills of the speaker than of his or her subject.

When you're close to your next birthday, rounding off to the higher age is perfectly normal and correct. I have sons with birthdays in March and June, and once the March one goes up to the next year, I usually move the June one up too, because they are 2 years apart.

Don't disagree, but I got twins... born in January... life is way easier.

I am getting really tired of the bullshit animosity in our politics. I cannot stand the President's policies, but he is our President. He was elected fairly and in that way deserves the office. Calling him a dick or harping on his flubs just distracts from the real problems we face as a country. A lot of right thinking conservatives are really bad about this and I think they should be better than that.

That's a more interesting (OK, marginally interesting) question than an inquiry into the relative offensiveness of two pretty tame locutions -- OMG compared with 'dick'. And the explanation for why Halperin characterized O that way is simply that that's how Halperin perceived what he was describing.

His apology is just a statement that, as a journalist, he should have masked his perception in anodyne non-judgmental terms rather than offering plain speaking. Perhaps he should have - that would be a more interesting question, too.

“Right no one is to stone ANYONE, until I blow this whistle! No matter WHO says “Jehovah!”

*throws rocks*

To me, the worst curse is to say G-- D-mn this or that... that's calling eternal damnation upon someone or something, which is (in my mind) far worse than cursing based upon simple scatological words or reproductive organs.

I consider that quite serious as well. I also cringe at “Jesus Christ” although it is used much more often than it used to be so I am getting somewhat immune. “Oh my god” doesn’t bother me though. It’s such a neutral sort of phrase. It really doesn’t mean anything at all.

I've always thought that the tough part of being Mark Helprin would be being confused with this knucklehead Mark Halperin.

Yes. As a fan of Helprin, I've had to make it very clear who I'm talking about when I recommend his books.

By the way, Halperin was just "suspended indefinitely" from MSNBC for his comment. See, you can be Keith Olbermann and make similar comments about Republicans for years and years. But you make one "dick" comment about Obama, and they cut you loose.

I had Paul Z's reaction. With Bruce Ackerman calling the prez "lawless" for ignoring the War Powers Act, with the administration floating a trial balloon about ignoring the debt ceiling, and after a press conference in which Obama blamed everyone in the country except himself for his failed economic policies, Halperin could quite credibly have claimed that he was only trying to say, "What a Dick Nixon."

"Ahh, come on - as often as I ask some variation of that question - why is it more important now because YOU ask it?"

Because every time I ask a question, it should be understood as containing the implicit assertion that I think the question is important... and not only important but more important than a similar question frequently asked by the Crack Emcee.

"How many layers of elites are there - you know, those people whose opinions about what's important are more credible than the rest of ours? Me and NewAge? Eh - not important unless you blog on it. ("Crack bait!") Glen Reynolds and robotics? DAMN! And you a men in shorts - because Glen likes you? Let it be! "

Jesus fucking Christ on a pogo stick, people get offended over the silliest of things.

All those who get offended when someone takes the God damned 'name' of your perverse deity in vain: we'll stop doing that when you believers stop trying to cram your God up our asses one God damned silent prayer at a time.

I believe that Scarborough claims to be a practicing Catholic and I take him at his word. My wag is that he is at least as serious about his faith in his religion as Althouse is about hers.

Particularly considering she has implied that her understanding of her God leads her to believe that uttering the phrase, "Oh, my God," is likely to induce God to condemn one to eternal perdition. That's a pretty trivial understanding of Christianity.

Carol, I believe it would be the absolute worst thing evah if the political left in this country imploded in the way you seem to be describing.

Not because I agree with them (I most certainly do not), but because a tyranny of the right is just as bad as one of the left.

If you doubt this, spend some time over at FreeRepublic.

There are some (very few) thoughtful leftists remaining, and it would be shame to see them go.I would rather asceribe to the old Rush Limbaugh belief that at the very least SOME lefties should remain, if only to serve as examples of what NOT TO DO.

Rather than watch the entire Left go the way of the dodo, I'd rather just see certain LEFTIES and their ideas tossed onto the dyngheap of history.

That left-versus-right struggle needs to continue if only for the sake that should either party ever had the power and ability to enact their complete agendas, we'd have open and bloody revolution in the streets.

My understanding is that it is a poorly translated commandment. (I think Dennis Prager is where I heard this.) The commandment actually refers to doing misdeeds in God’s name not casual cursing. This just makes sense. Why would God have a commandment against using his name while cursing but NOT have a commandment against using his name as a means to mistreat other people? To conclude that “taking the Lord’s name in vain” equates to “Oh my God!” makes the scripture itself appear nonsensical.

@Nitpicker: Yes, nothing says "Republican hack" to me quite like the position "Senior Advisor for the Open Society Institute," which is the job currently held by Old Man Halperin, whom Nixon trusted so much that he had his phone tapped.

I think Halperin nailed it on the head, because Obama is a dick, that's in large part why he is ineffective. He is aloof and doesn't even know the age of one of his daughters. I went to high school with Mark's brother, who works for the AP. I doubt that Mark is personally that liberal, but is most likely more of a pragmatic Democrat that you find in the Maryland suburbs. I also don't think OMG is a BFD. And I can't believe Ann thinks it is either, other than pandering to the religious right to increase traffic to her blog.

How impressed will you be at my writing skill if you realize that after 7 1/2 years of blogging, frequently about religion, that I have not given you the material to answer that question?

I can't tell if you are being sarcastic and calling me lazy for not going through your archives to find the answer or if you really are intentionally mysterious about these things.

That you are a well-educated law professor would lead me to assume that you are an atheist, but that makes it odd that you are speaking for others in invoking offendedness on their behalf over the Lord's name.

"Nobody is really talking about why Halperin called Obama a dick. Did he ever explain that?"

He explains the "dickishness" quite succinctly. Obama took an opportunity to show leadership (or to have a friggin' original thought for once in his life) and turned it into a whiny bitch session that any college sophomore could have compiled... "Rich people are greedy, waah, waah, waah, Congress won't help me, waah, waah, waah...".I wouldn't have called him a dick, I'd have called him a pussy.

I agree with Goddess of the Classroom. It's often overlooked that there is a difference between profanity, vulgarity, and obscenity. Profanity involves a profane, non-sacred, reference to the deity, or cursing the soul of another person. In that way, OMG can be thought of as profanity. Vulgarity is using common, unscientific words to describe certain body parts, bodily functions and products. Calling anyone a dick is a vulgarity. Obscenity is a branch of vulgarity related to improper or impossible sexual acts, as in go fuck yourself. All three can be offensive and are usually intended to be when used among strangers.

Yeah, but you also voted for Obama - damning us to irrationality and malaise - and he falls for quackery - enriching criminals and killers - so, if we're trying to fix the country, the whole thing's pretty skewed, no?

Mind you, I'm fucking with you today, Ann, I ain't mad at you. The shit's just pretty obvious today,...I wonder why, by checking the news, some things come into such focus?

Words here are being given the power to classify others and reject the speakers of vulgar or improper words. That was GBS's entire My Fair Lady plot. Religious legalists do often latch onto a few easy to crucify outsiders with words such as an ignorant claim that saying God without a permission slip makes one liable to exclusion. That is total BS. If your religion is that dangerous a group, then I would get the hell out of it and find a safe group that is not eager to condemn people.

Brilliant post, thanks! "OMG" is not technically taking the Lord's Name in vain because neither of the phrase's three words is a/the Name of God. However, the manner of its use makes the phrase equivalent to taking the Lord's Name in vain, meaning trivializing It. So yes, your instincts in this matter are correct. Using the phrase violates the Commandment and sickens every clean heart and ear.

There are proper uses for the actual Name of God which include condemnatory, taunting, ridiculing, mocking and even scatological and familiar language. Prophetic literature of the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament is full of these. The justification for such usage of the Name of God lies in the commission of the Prophet, not in their initiative. During their lives, of course, auditors usually hear initiative rather than commission when prophets speak.

So, because Prophetic literature is full of hair-raising, modernly "unacceptable" language that includes the Name of God is not justification for just anyone to go out and do likewise. Prophetic speech using the Name of God in hair-raising terms is not trivial, and not because of the hair-raising aspect but because of the commission of the speech itself.

What was the semi-recent falderol that was similar? I think it was on Scarborough also...

There's a coarsening, of sorts, going on that is hastened by the 24/7 cycle, the internet, and everyone being too cool for school. But it's perfectly natural. What's the over/under for when fuck becomes an acceptable exclamation for a kindergartener to utter?